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Monday, July 28, 2008

"Looking into the Heart of Ireland" is the title of the 7th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture. Lisa of Small-leaved Shamrock presented us with a Summer Reading Challenge, and if my count is correct, eleven bloggers shared 14 posts on a variety of literature relating to Ireland: fiction, poetry, genealogy, memoirs, history and juvenile literature (my submission is "The Long March"). Lisa did a fabulous job (as always), and arranged the posts into different genres, each illustrated with lovely old-fashioned pen and ink drawings and Irish quotes. She also recommended other books and online articles to complete the theme.

Have Irish heritage in your family history? Make a plan to further investigate the Irish side of your family tree and share your goals with us. Here are some ideas:

*Work back a few more generations on one branch of your Irish family tree

*Find naturalization papers that give the county of origin for an immigrant ancestor

*Find the townland in Ireland where your immigrant ancestor was born

*Get in touch with other relatives who share the same Irish genealogy

Instead of (or in addition to) focusing on genealogy, want to learn more about Irish heritage or culture in general? Choose a topic or task that interests you, and let us know how you plan to learn more about it this coming year. Give one of these a try:

*Take up Irish baking

*Learn more about and enjoy Celtic music

*Take up or set out to watch Irish dance

*Learn the Irish language

*Plan a trip to Ireland or a place where Irish culture resides

Set some goals for the new school year and share them with us, whether you've begun working on them or not. Hopefully we will all inspire each other in our quest for Irish family history and in our attempts to make the culture of Ireland more a part of our lives.

Deadlines for submissions are Monday, September 22nd, and can be entered here. Go enjoy reading the latest carnival, and get busy with your ideas for the next one!